Devices of the type in question predominantly, but by no means exclusively, serve to solder electronic components on a printed circuit board, wherein the soldering pins of the components being arranged on the upper side of the printed circuit board or blank reach through the printed circuit board in recesses and project, at least slightly, beyond the lower side of the blank. Soldering is then either effected by advancing the blank to a point above a soldering nozzle unit that is fixedly arranged, with a solder wave leaving the soldering nozzle (wave soldering), or by a soldering nozzle arrangement approaching the areas to be soldered, said arrangement having one or more soldering nozzle(s) being adapted to the relevant conditions, solder constantly leaving the nozzle/s, wherein the pins to be soldered are dipped into the solder (dip soldering). Since only a small part of the molten solder that leaves the soldering nozzles is used for the actual soldering procedure, the excess solder is discharged and is returned into the melting crucible. If the solder, due to the forces of gravity, simply flows or falls back into the melting crucible now, there is the risk of spatters being formed when the solder hits the carrier fixing the soldering nozzles or the liquid level of the molten solder in the crucible, which spatters may lead to a functional failure of components having been soldered in such a manner if they get on the lower side of the printed circuit board. This risk is increased even further if soldering is effected under shielding gas, in particular in the form of nitrogen, since the liquid solder tends to form balls and/or spatters very often under a nitrogen atmosphere.
For diminishing this problem, it is known to furnish the soldering nozzles with inclined drain or guide plates, which are supposed to provide for controlled flowing off of the excess solder. In particular for a multitude of soldering nozzles that are very close to each other, it is not possible to use such guide plates.